Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corp. operated as a specialty metals plant in Newfield Borough, New Jersey from 1955 to 2006. The site covers a 67.5-acre main facility, a 19.8-acre farm parcel about 2,000 feet to the southwest, and the Hudson Branch stream. EPA placed the site on the National Priorities List in September 1984 after wastewater from plant operations contaminated groundwater and soil.
Thirty-one contaminants of concern have been identified at the site. Groundwater contains metals such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, and mercury, along with volatile organic compounds including trichloroethene, tetrachloroethene, and 1,1-dichloroethene. Soil and sediment contain chromium, vanadium, nickel, copper, and other heavy metals from production activities. Area residents are connected to public water supply.
Cleanup is organized into three operable units. For groundwater (Operable Unit 1), a pump-and-treat system ran from 1979 to 2014. In 2015, the remedy shifted to in-situ chemical reduction, monitored natural attenuation, bioremediation, institutional controls, and long-term monitoring. That remedial action ran from September 2016 through December 2020 and is now in long-term response action status. For soil, sediment, and surface water (Operable Unit 2), contaminated sediment was excavated from Hudson Branch in four phases between September 2018 and January 2020 and shipped by rail to a licensed disposal facility in Michigan. Facility soil was capped and wetland restoration was completed. That work finished in September 2020 and is now in operation and maintenance. Perchlorate contamination (Operable Unit 3) is still under study. Field work for the supplemental investigation finished in March 2021, with a final report expected in 2025 and a remedy decision anticipated in 2026.
Current status shows that physical construction is not complete across the full site, and insufficient data exist to determine whether human exposure and groundwater migration are fully under control. The most recent five-year review was completed in July 2023, with the next review estimated for July through September 2028. The site has not been deleted from the National Priorities List.
Community members can get involved by contacting the EPA team assigned to the site. The Community Involvement Coordinator is Olivia Cappo. The Remedial Project Manager is William Friedmann. Site documents are available at the EPA Records Center in New York City at 290 Broadway, 18th floor, by appointment, and at the Newfield Public Library, 115 Catawba Avenue, Newfield, New Jersey 08344.
